This article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer purports to instruct us that Science has shown that the Virgin Birth couldn’t possibly be true becuase, well, where would Jesus have gotten his Y chromosome if he didn’t have a human father? Jeez, why didn’t I think of that? And, now that you mention it, hasn’t Science shown…

Start coming up with more creative post titles than “[Author] x on [topic] y.”

Since I’ve been on a bit of a Robert Jenson “kick” lately, and it seems germane to this morning’s topic, here’s an excerpt from his 1984 essay “Toward a Christian Theory of the Public” (I’m not sure how much of this Jenson still stands by, but it’s good food for thought anyway): In the economy…

Kim at Crossroads has a very thoughtful post about poverty and how Christians should think about government’s role in responding to it. I left this comment (minor modifications added): I think it’s difficult to get a political philosophy from the Bible because of the circumstances in which it was written. In the NT in particular,…

This is from Lutheran theologian Robert W. Jenson‘s essay “With No Qualifications: The Christological Maximalism of the Christian East,” found in the collection Ancient & Postmodern Christianity: Paleo-Orthodoxy in the 21st Century – Essays in Honor of Thomas C. Oden, edited by Kenneth Tanner and Christopher A. Hall: The Father has defined his deity itself…

Speaking of Bishop Willimon, I liked this talk on “mixing religion and politics.”

William Placher reviews Anglican theologian Oliver O’Donovan’s latest book, The Ways of Judgment, in the Christian Century. O’Donovan is (in)famous for his defense of the idea of “Christendom.” The notion that Christendom was a disaster may be the one thing that unites liberal and “postliberal” theologians these days, but O’Donovan has argued that 1. it’s…

Via Kevin Carson comes news of the Vermont Independence Convention: The objectives of the convention are twofold. First, to raise the level of awareness of Vermonters of the feasibility of independence as a viable alternative to a nation which has lost its moral authority and is unsustainable. Second, to provide an example and a process…

The October issue of First Things is now online in its entirety. Some pieces I particularly enjoyed: Stephen Barr on evolution and design Joseph Bottum on P.G. Wodehouse David B. Hart on the theology of Robert Jenson

This is from Gustaf Aulen’s excellent book Reformation and Catholicity: The act of salvation is entirely an act of Christ. This act creates faith. Faith is the sign of man’s new relationship to Christ, which comes into being when man is incorporated into a living fellowship with him. Luther has a classic statement: “in faith…